Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Trims Stock Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 70,784 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mosaic in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,610,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Mosaic by 1,815.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $346,743,000 after buying an additional 10,124,427 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Mosaic by 647.8% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 32,612 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,059,000 after buying an additional 28,251 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,240,678 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,856,000 after acquiring an additional 71,986 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 131.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 38,894 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 22,084 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $33.22.

Mosaic Trading Up 2.3 %

Mosaic stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $26.03. 846,348 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,328,359. The firm has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.35. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.82.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.34%.

Mosaic Profile

The Mosaic Company, through its subsidiaries, produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It owns and operates mines, which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients, such as diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammoniated phosphate products; and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients primarily under the Biofos and Nexfos brand names, as well as produces a double sulfate of potash magnesia product under K-Mag brand name.